Myanmar has declared a state of emergency in a border region where fighting between the army and a self-styled militia called the National Myanmar Democratic Alliance Army has forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee Kokang into neighbouring China. The area is notorious for people-smuggling and drug-trafficking. Proceeds from drugs are helping to fund the fighting now raging across the border. A Red Cross convoy was hit by gunfire on Tuesday as it attempted to bring refugees to China. The paramilitary police now guard an enormous camp for Myanmar refugees in China's Yunnan province. Most refugees are ethnic Chinese. Some of the fiercest fighting has been happening in and around the town of Laukkai, just a few kilometres inside Myanmar. Myanmar remains among the ten most violent states for Christians to live. In the past clashes on the Chinese border have taken place between the army and Christian-majority ethnic groups. In 2014 many Kachin Christians were killed and churches and homes destroyed.